Change in Latin America : are anti-U.S. sentiments on the rise? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
7 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Winds of discontent are again blowing through Latin America, threatening U.S. influence in the region. Washington promoted
political and economic transformations that swept the continent in the 1990s, but the resulting leap from dictatorship to
democracy has left many political and governmental institutions weak. And despite promises of expanded opportunities, some
70 percent of the region's 500 million people live on $300 a month or less. Income inequality between rich and poor is stark,
and growing. Stoking the inevitable bitterness is Venezuela's combative president, Hugo Chávez, who has made himself the
Bush administration's rival for regional leadership. Skyrocketing oil revenues are turning his petroleum-rich country into
a financial powerhouse. Meanwhile, critics of U.S. support for free trade say unrestricted commerce will weaken Latin American
countries at the expense of North American business interests

Real ID : will the new driver's license law make Americans safer? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2007
in
English
and held by
7 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Americans and their political leaders have long resisted the idea of a national ID card. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, finding out who was in the country illegally took on new urgency. Two years ago, Congress passed a law to toughen
standards for issuing driver's licenses -- the main form of national identification. But practical problems and philosophical
objections are dogging the Real ID Act. Seven state legislatures have already voted against putting it into effect in its
present form, and 25 others are considering opposition. Critics argue Real ID licenses will create red-tape nightmares for
millions of citizens -- without making them safer. Proponents say the new law is needed because in some states current license
standards have weaknesses terrorists can exploit. Meanwhile, another debate is under way on whether to raise standards for
issuing Social Security cards

War on drugs : should nonviolent drug users be subject to arrest? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
7 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
President Bush's anti-drug campaign has increasingly focused on a law-enforcement model that attacks the "supply side" of
the illegal drug industry -- traffickers, smugglers and users -- rather than on helping users through prevention and treatment,
the so-called demand side. He also would like more middle and high schools to conduct random drug tests, although few have
signed on. And although the Food and Drug Administration in April declared that smoked marijuana lacks any known medicinal
properties, 12 states now bar state prosecution of those who use marijuana for medical purposes. The number of people arrested
annually on marijuana-related charges has skyrocketed -- from 400,000 in the 1980s to about 700,000 -- partly because low-level
drug offenders now can be diverted to one of more than 1,750 new "drug courts," where their cases are dismissed if they stay
straight. The Bush administration says it has struck the right balance between treatment and law enforcement

Lobbying boom : should the influence industry be regulated more closely? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
7 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Lobbying is a growth industry. The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled during the past decade,
to 26,013, and last year clients paid lobbyists an unprecedented $2 billion to help influence Congress. Lobbyists meet with
lawmakers and their staffers so often they have become part of the nation's legislative machinery. In addition, they raise
and donate millions of dollars in campaign cash. Political professionals of all stripes view lobbyists as indispensable experts
and persuaders -- and as honorable professionals in most cases. But lobbying and corruption have gone hand-in-hand since the
19th century. The latest cloud to shadow lobbyists is a controversy over tens of millions of dollars in fees paid to Washington
lobbyist Jack Abramoff by Native American tribes seeking to keep their legal casinos flourishing. In the wake of the still-unresolved
allegations against Abramoff, open-government advocates say new disclosure rules are needed so lobbyists operate with more
transparency

Identity theft : can Congress give Americans better protection? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
6 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Assembling a new identity used to be the specialty of spies and master criminals. Now, ordinary crooks are acquiring consumers'
personal information -- Social Security numbers, addresses, mother's maiden names and other data -- and opening new accounts
in other peoples' names. Nearly 10 million consumers are affected annually by lost or stolen data at a cost to the economy
of $53 billion. Moreover, victims spend almost 300 million hours a year trying to clear their names and re-establish good
credit ratings. Congress and state legislatures are looking at ways to stop identity theft, but financial and data-collection
companies argue any solutions that slow down the business of buying and selling personal data would hurt the economy. Meanwhile,
in the biggest in a series of recent security breaches, Citigroup announced on June 6 that computer tapes containing personal
data on 3.9 million consumers were missing

Exporting democracy : will President Bush's efforts succeed? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
6 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
At his second inauguration in January, President Bush vowed "to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions
in every nation." Critics from Russian President Vladimir Putin to political scientist Francis Fukuyama said the president
was taking on too great a challenge, and that similar efforts in the past have failed. But Bush's backers urged him to stay
the course. Successful elections in Iraq and Afghanistan and promising pro-democracy activities in Lebanon, Egypt, Ukraine,
Kyrgyzstan and other nations seemed to prove Bush correct. Still, Bush's campaign to promote global democracy faces challenges,
including forming an interim government in violence-torn Iraq. Moreover, skeptics say, establishing a true government of the
people requires civil liberties for women as well as men, a free press, an independent judiciary and the other institutions
that make up a democracy

Debating hip-hop : does gangsta rap harm black Americans? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2007
in
English
and held by
6 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Since exploding from the streets of New York in the 1970s, the cultural phenomenon known as hip-hop has morphed from hard-driving
dance numbers into sex- and violence-filled "gangsta rap"--And a record-label goldmine. Gangsta lyrics have sparked periodic
outbreaks of indignation, but the outrage intensified after white shock jock Don Imus was fired in April for describing black
female athletes in the degrading terms used commonly by hip-hop performers. African-American leaders, including Bill Cosby,
Oprah Winfrey and the Rev. Al Sharpton, claim the genre's glorification of thug culture -- often for the entertainment of
white youths -- drags down the black community. In response, a few top hip-hop figures have called for cleaning up gangsta
content. Meanwhile, a school of socially conscious hip-hop remains vibrant, embraced by political activists, school reformers
and artistic innovators who call it an inspiration no matter what happens to the gangsta style

Rebuilding New Orleans : should flood-prone areas be redeveloped? by Peter Katel(
Book
)3
editions published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
6 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Five months after Hurricane Katrina flooded most of New Orleans, some 80 percent of the "Crescent City" remains unrepaired.
Damage is estimated at $35 billion. Most schools and businesses are still closed, and two-thirds of the 460,000 residents
have moved out. How many will return remains troublingly uncertain. Municipal leaders only this month began setting up a process
to decide which of the city's 73 neighborhoods can be resettled and which would be left uninhabited to soak up future floodwaters.
Questions about who will help the city's poorer residents -- many of them African-American -- hang over the city, along with
concern about how much of New Orleans' storied popular culture will survive. Meanwhile, as a new hurricane season approaches,
efforts to repair and strengthen the protective system of levees, canals and pumps lag behind schedule

Illegal immigration : do illegal workers help or hurt the economy? by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
6 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
More than 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and 1,400 more arrive every day. Once concentrated in a
few big states like Texas and California, they are rapidly moving into non-traditional areas such as the Midwest and South.
Willing to work for low wages, the migrants are creating a backlash among some residents of the new states, which have seen
a nearly tenfold increase in illegal immigration since 1990. While illegal immigrants only make up about 5 percent of the
U.S. work force, critics of the nation's immigration policies say illegal immigrants take Americans' jobs, threaten national
security and even change the nation's culture by refusing to assimilate. But immigrants' advocates say illegal migrants fill
the jobs Americans refuse to take and generally boost the economy. Proposals to deal with illegal immigration include the
Real ID bill, which would block states from issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, and "guest worker" programs
granting temporary legal status to illegal workers

Treatment of detainees by Peter Katel(
Book
)2
editions published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
The Supreme Court recently struck down the Bush administration's system for holding and trying detainees at the U.S. Naval
base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The administration had maintained that the Geneva Conventions did not protect alleged terrorists
captured in Afghanistan and other battlefields in the five-year-old war on terror, and critics say that policy led to the
use of abusive interrogation methods, such as "water-boarding" and sleep deprivation. The critics, including top military
lawyers, successfully argued that the United States was violating the laws of warfare. They also opposed military commissions
the administration has proposed for conducting detainee trials. Bush said the war on terrorism required the commissions' streamlined
procedures, which deny some rights guaranteed by the conventions. The court's decision leaves Congress with two options: require
detainees to be tried under the military's existing court-martial system or create a new, legal version of the administration's
commissions

Voting controversies by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Vote-counting controversies in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections have left a cloud of concern hanging over the
upcoming November 2006 congressional vote as well as the not-so-far-off 2008 presidential election. The issues range from
the trustworthiness of electronic, touch-screen voting machines to fears that laws requiring more stringent verification of
citizens' identities would disenfranchise minority voters. Some computer experts insist that touch-screen machines are vulnerable
to hackers and that "paper trails" are needed to ensure that the vote counts can be verified if challenged. But the devices
are so popular with election officials that up to 40 percent of voters will use touch-screen machines this year, many of which
will not produce backup paper print-outs. Meanwhile, scrutiny of the entire voting process, from voter registration to ballot
counting is intensifying in courthouses and statehouses across the country

Minimum wage by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
The federal minimum wage -- $5.15 an hour -- has not changed since 1997. Since then, minimum-wage earners have lost 17 percent
of their purchasing power to inflation. Supporters of increasing the rate say it would lift many Americans out of poverty,
but business groups say an increase would hurt the working poor because it would cause companies to lay off low-wage workers.
In any case, they say, many minimum-wage earners are middle-class teens earning pocket money, not poor adults. Attempts in
Congress to raise the minimum wage failed this year, but perennial sponsor Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., says he will try
again next year. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., now have higher minimum wages than the federal level, and 130 cities
and counties have so-called living-wage laws requiring public contractors to pay significantly higher wages. Nevada and Florida
recently passed minimum-wage ballot initiatives, and more state battles are looming

Protecting whistleblowers by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
From prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison to fraud at Enron, some of the most dramatic revelations of corporate and government
wrongdoing have come from insiders. The Whistleblower Protection Act and other laws are designed to shield employees who reveal
wrongdoing from retaliation by vengeful bosses. But federal employees who claim they were harassed after blowing the whistle
lose their cases far more often than they win. They lose so often, in fact, that some whistleblower advocates urge potential
whistleblowers to become anonymous sources for reporters instead. National-security employees are in an especially delicate
position, because what they want to disclose may involve secret information. Several bills now before Congress aim to strengthen
protections for whistleblowers, including those in intelligence agencies

Global Jihad by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
President Bush declared in early October that the war in Iraq is a key front in the war with terrorist jihadists. But the
president's critics insist that the war actually serves as a recruiting tool for jihadists. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
that made Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorist organization notorious -- and celebrated -- worldwide, jihadists have
struck more than 107 times in more than a dozen countries -- a figure that doesn't include hundreds of attacks on civilians
and American soldiers in Iraq. The global terror offensive points to the existence of a unifying jihadist ideology. But much
is unknown about the terrorists. Are their goals political or strictly religious? Do they operate under a unified command
or through a loose network of organizations and cells? Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that al Qaeda remains strong enough
to have played a role in the subway and bus bombings in London on July 7

American Indians by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Winds of change are blowing through Indian Country, improving prospects for many of the nation's 4.4 million Native Americans.
The number of tribes managing their own affairs has increased dramatically, and an urban Indian middle class is quietly taking
root. The booming revenues of many Indian-owned casinos seem the ultimate proof that Indians are overcoming a history of mistreatment,
poverty and exclusion. Yet most of the gambling houses don't rake in stratospheric revenues. And despite statistical upticks
in socioeconomic indicators, American Indians are still poorer, more illness-prone and less likely to be employed than their
fellow citizens. Meanwhile, tribal governments remain largely dependent on direct federal funding of basic services -- funding
that Indian leaders and congressional supporters decry as inadequate. But government officials say they are still providing
essential services despite budget cuts

Ending poverty by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
In early July, President Bush and the other seven leaders of the world's leading industrial powers -- the G-8 -- agreed to
double their global anti-poverty aid to $50 billion a year by 2010, with half the funding going to Africa. Some development
experts say massive and well-targeted spending can wipe out the worst effects of poverty in Africa -- the world's poorest
continent -- in just a few decades. But others, including some Africans, call that plan simplistic, warning that corruption,
rampant HIV/AIDS, drought, malaria, lack of infrastructure and civil conflict remain major obstacles to fighting poverty.
Indeed, projections show that sub-Saharan Africa will remain far from meeting the U.N.'s first anti-poverty target date, 2015.
Meanwhile, even supporters of increased aid to sub-Saharan Africa and other impoverished regions worry that the rich countries
may not keep the spending promises announced with great fanfare at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland

Haiti's dilemma by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
Haiti is among the world's poorest, least stable countries, beset by extreme unemployment, near-total deforestation, disease
and chronic political unrest. After Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced into exile a year ago, an
interim government and United Nations peacekeepers sought to stabilize the little Caribbean nation just 650 miles from Florida.
Soon afterward, a full-fledged U.N. relief effort was launched. But Haiti remains torn by violence and dangerously unstable.
Parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled to be held later this year, but some political observers say Haiti
is a failed state that requires nothing short of a total U.N. takeover. Others blame the United States for causing many of
Haiti's problems and not doing more to help it recover. Meanwhile, human rights advocates say the Bush administration's policy
of allowing fleeing Cubans into the U.S. while excluding most Haitians is blatantly unfair

Prison reform by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2007
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
America has more people in prisons and jails -- 2.2 million -- than any other country in the world. And over the next five
years, the number of prison inmates is projected to grow three times faster than the national population. Prison crowding
in California has become so critical that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried sending inmates to other states.
And in Philadelphia a federal judge has called crowded conditions in city jails inhumane, warning that prisoners might have
to be released. With the cost of housing prisoners projected to reach $40 billion by 2011, alternatives to incarceration for
nonviolent crimes are being proposed, even by law-and-order prison officials and politicians. Meanwhile, support is growing
for more rehabilitation programs in prisons as well as a bipartisan proposal to help ex-inmates stay out of prison

Emerging China by Peter Katel(
)1
edition published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
0 WorldCat member
libraries
worldwide
In just two decades, low-paid Chinese workers and a modernization-obsessed leadership have transformed China into one of the
world's biggest economies. China produces two-thirds of the world's copiers, microwave ovens and DVD players, plus vast amounts
of its clothing, shoes and toys. China's 9 percent growth rate over the past 25 years is the fastest economic acceleration
in world history. Average incomes have quadrupled, and 300 million people were lifted out of poverty. China's $1.6 trillion
economic output is expected to triple in 15 years, overtaking the United States by 2039. Critics say the communist nation
owes much of its success to unfair trade practices and abysmal labor conditions for Chinese workers. In any case, China's
leaders are intent on maintaining growth. High unemployment, widespread poverty and growing social unrest create unstoppable
demand for the economy to keep expanding